Street or station indicator



R. MAJOR Er AL STREET OR STATION INDICATOR Filed April 19' 3 2 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 1,1925- R. MAJOR ET AL STREET OR STATION INDICATOR Patented Dec. 1, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT MAJOR, .PIUS J'. DURBIN, AND FINGAL C. ORR; O15v LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA;

SAID FINGAL C. ORR ASSIGNOR TO SAID ROBERT MAJOR AND SAID PIUS J. DUR- BIN.

1 STREET OR STATION INDICATOR.

county of Los Angeles, State of California,

have invented new and useful Improvements in Street or Station Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to a street or station indicator that is adapted for use upon passenger cars, busses and the like, the principal objects of our invention being to generally improve upon and simplify the construction of the existingforms of street and station indicators, to provide a construction that will simultaneously display, at opposite ends or sides of the housing of the indicator, the'name or number of a street or station and further, to provide an indicator of the character referred to that may be operated from either end of the car upon which it is carried.

ith the foregoing and other objects in View, our invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts that will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View of a station indicator of our improved construction. i

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the indicator with parts broken away and in section.

Fi g. 3 is an end elevation of the indicator.

Fig. l-is a perspective view of the flexible member that bears the names of the streets or stations.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged line 5--5 of Fig. 2. r

Fig. (i is a diagrammatic view showing section taken on the the connections where each car in a train is equipped with one of our' improvedindicators.-

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a' practical embodiment of our invention, 10 designates a box-like "housing, preferably formed of sheet metal-and having openings 11 formed in its ends. 1 1

Journalledin the side walls of the housing' adjacent to the ends thereof, are shafts Plus I i and 19.

Application filed April 19, 1923. Serial No. 633,117.

12 and 13 that carry, respectively, drums 14 and 15 and the peripheries of the latter are adapted to travel in paths immediately adjacent to the openings 11.

' Shafts 16 and 17 are journalle'd in the side walls ofthe housing between the shafts 12 and 13 and fixed'on said shafts 16 and 17 are, respectively, drums or spools 18 Shafts 16 and 17 are connected for simultaneous and uniform rotation by meshing gear wheels 20. l V

Secured to drum 18 so as to wind thereonto and therefronnis a thin, flexible beltlilre member 21, and printed, stamlpe'd or stencilled on bothfaces thereof are the names of streets or stations.

These street or station names are arranged in proper sequence to correspond with the sequential arrangement of the streets or stations'on the line traversed by the car that is equipped with our improved indicator.

From the upper portion of drum 18, the web of the belt-like member passes to the top of drum 14, thence around the outer portion of said drum, past the adjacent opening 11, thence beneath drum 18, thence upward and over 'drum 19, thence to the upper portion of drum 15, around the outer portion of the latter, past the adjacent opening 11, thence to the underside of drum 19 and the end of the web or belt-like member being secured to the last mentioned drum.

By thus mounting the member 21 upon the drums, one face thereof is displayed through one of the openings 11 and the other face is displayed through the other opening.

The names of the streets or stations are arranged on the faces of member 21 so that the name of thejsamestreet or station is simultaneously displayed through the openings 11.

To compensate for the varying sizes of the windings of the member 21"upon the drums 18 and 19, rollers 22 are journalled between plates 23, one pair of the] latter being journalled on shaft 16' and the other pair on shaft 17. r

One of these rollers bears on top of the web of member21, between drums 14 and 18 and the other roller bears on the under side of the web, between the drums 15 and 19.

The upper ends of the pairs of plates 23 are pivotally connected to a horizontally disposed plate 24; that is constantly urged in one direction by springs such as 25.

By this arrangement, the rollers 22 exert yielding pressure on the web portions of member 21, between drums 15 and 19.

The end portions of shaft 16 project through the side walls of the housing and arranged on each projecting end is a ratchet and pawl mechanism. The two mechanisms are identical in construction, but they are reversely arranged relative to each other, so that when one is actuated, it will impart intermittent rotary motion to shaft 16 in one direction and when the other mechanism is actuated, it will impart intermittent rotary motion to said shaft in the opposite or reverse direction,

Each mechanism includes a ratchet wheel 26, that is fixed to shaft 16 and loosely mounted on said shaft adjacent to the ratchet wheel is the lower end of an arm 27, to which latter is connected one end of a retraoti'ile spring .28.

Pivotally mounted on the upper end of arm 27 is a pawl 29, the point of which is normally held out of engagement with the teeth of the adjacent wheel by a spring 30, the latter being much weaker than spring 28 so as to permit pawl 29 to be swung on its axis to engage its point with the teeth of ratchet wheel 26 before any pull is on erted on arm 27 and its relatively heavy restraining spring 28.

Projecting upwardly from the upper end of pawl 29 is an arm 31 and connected thereto is the end of a flexible member such as a cord or cable 32.

One of these members 32 extends to one end of the car on which the indicator is positioned and the other member extends to the other end of said ar, Y

This arrangement of actuating mechanisms makes it possible for the car driver and conductor to properly operate the indicator from their regular stations on the platforms at the ends of the car and likewise to'properly operate the indicators on cars that do or do not make loops or turn half way around at ends of their lines of travel.

In the operation of our improved indicator, the car driver or conductor, as the case may be, intermittently, pulls the correspond ing cord or cable 32 to effect an int rm ttent movement of member it being understood that. the gold or cable pulled as the car approaches a cross street or station.

As the cord is thus pulled, the corresponding pawl is swung upon its axis until its point engages the adjacent ratchet wheel 26, and, further pull on the cord, swings arm #27 upon shaf 26., wi h he result th t the engaged ratchet wheel and shaft will be partially rotated Suitable stops 27 are arranged to limit the swinging movements of the arms 27.

AS shaft 16 is thus partially rotated, drum 18 will be likewise rotated and corresponding movement will be imparted to drum 19 and shaft 17 through gears 20. 4

Thus a portion of beltlike member 21 will be wound onto or unwound from drum 1S and correspondingly wound onto or unwound from drum 19 and the movement of said member 21 upon drums 1% and 15 will simultaneously bring into view through the openings 11, the name of the street or stat-ion that the ear is approaching.

The spring held rollers 22, bearing on the webs of the member 21, between the drums 14 and 1S and 15 and 15), maintain said webs in taut condition and take up any slack that might be occasioned by the gradual increase and decrease in size of the windings of the member 21 upon the drums 18 and 19.

\Vhen the car upon which the indicator is located makes a return trip or retraces its travel, the proper cord 32 is intermittently pulled to effect a reverse movement of the member 21 and thus the names of the streets or stations will be displayed in proper sequence through the openings 11.

In Fig. 6 we have shown an arrangement for siimrltaneously operating a series of the indicators that are located on the different cars of a train.

This arrangement includes pull cords or cables that extend the entire length of the train, with one cord connected to the pawls on one side of the indicators and the other cord connected to the pawl's on the other side of said indicators.

Arranged between the pull cords 50 and the pawls are retractile springs 51 that are heavier than the springs 28.

This arrangement provides a connection between the pull cords and pawls that will yield to a certain degree as the train stretches or diminishes in length during its travel.

Thus it will be seen that we have pro vided a relatively simple and practical arrangement in street and station indicators th t ll Simultaneously show, through two oppositely arranged openings in the housing of the device, the names of the streets or stations on the line traversed by the car upon which the indicator is positioned It will be understood that various changes in the size, fOl'm and construction of our improved street or station indicator may be made and Substituted for those "hereindescribed without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a street or station indicator, a housing provided with a pair of oppositely arranged openings, a series of four drums mounted for operation within said housing, the intermediate pair of drums being geared to each other so as to rotate simultaneously, the end drums being disposed adjacent to the openings in the housing, a beltlike member having its ends secured to the members of the intermediate pair of drums with the Web of said beltlike member passing around the end drums, said beltlike member bearing on both faces, the names of the streets or stations, a pair of plates journalled on the axis of each intermediate drum, a spring held member connecting the upper portions of said pair of plates and tension rollers jour nalled between said pairs of plates and bear ing on the portions of said beltlike member between the intermediate drums and the end. drums.

2. In a street and station indicator, a

series of four drums mounted for operation, the intermediate pair of drums being geared to each other so as to rotate simultaneously, a beltlike member having its ends secured respectively to the members forming the intermediate pair of drums, with the web of said bel'tlike member passing around the end drums, a pair of plates journaled on the axis of each intermediate drum, a spring held member connecting the upper portions of said pairs of plates and tension rollers journaled between said pairs of plates and bearing on the portions of said belt-like member between the intermediate drums and the end drums.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

ROBERT MAJ OR. PIUS J. DURBIN. FINGAL C. ORR. 

